Allied Telesis

Is building a next-generation secure network

Overview

Allied Telesis is a world leader in delivering IP/Ethernet network solutions to the global marketplace. Founded in 1987, it has holdings that now include nearly 70 developments, manufacturing sites, and sales offices worldwide, and according to its Director, Jun Kawakita, the company has achieved top sales and top rankings in customer satisfaction surveys.

Challenges

Allied Telesis is currently focusing on software defined networking (SDN) solutions to enhance the IT infrastructure of enterprises and organizations. In addition to its Allied Telesis Management Framework (AMF), it offers the Secure Enterprise SDN, which tightly integrates with security solutions from Trend Micro, including Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Inspector (DDI). To solidify this strategic alliance, Allied Telesis has deployed DDI in its own internal network, and has been using it to support full-scale operations since the beginning of 2016.

"In terms of cost-performance, operability, threat-detection rate, and network visualization, there is no better product in the market than DDL."

Takashi Suzuki,Deputy Director
IT as Service Division
Allied Telesis K.K.

Allied Telesis required a solution to increase the protection it offers against advanced persistent threats (APTs)—both for customers and for its own internal network.

Why Trend Micro

The IT as Service Division of Allied Telesis was in charge of finding a solution to increase protection against APTs. During the solution selection process, it compared and tested numerous anti-APT products. It found that many ostensibly market-leading solutions could actually increase the division’s workload and costs, rather than reducing them.

“We evaluated another product, which was said to be market leading, and which had an established reputation against APTs,” said Takashi Suzuki, deputy director of the division. “Although that product detected and reported many potential threats, we found that determining if they were actually malicious would require additional workload. The solution also required separate security appliances for different protocols such as email and web, which would again increase operational workload—and cost. In addition, the vendor did not offer a solution to remove threats if they reached endpoints, so we would require yet another solution or support from another vendor.”

When the division turned its attention to DDI, however, it found everything it needed. “We decided that Trend Micro DDI, which offers comprehensive support for multiple protocols, as well as an endpoint solution, would be the best fit for our needs,” said Suzuki.

"Our strengths in networking and Trend Micro’s strengths in cyber security are the best combination to establish a truly secure enterprise network."

Solution

Allied Telesis deployed DDI with the intention of supporting a wide range of network sizes. The solution provides not only threat detection, but also the ability to visualize how threats are penetrating and their severity.

While Allied Telesis still uses third-party antivirus software, it anticipates that it will soon be able to automate the process for detecting and quarantining threats. As Suzuki explained, “That means that, even with our current solution combination, we can greatly reduce the operational workload for handling threats, and we are considering completely switching to Trend Micro’s endpoint solution in the future to automate all these processes.”

Results

With the comprehensive abilities of DDI, Allied Telesis has been able to automate many previously labor-intensive process and minimize the cost and workload associated with threat detection—all while providing improved visibility into network security.

What's Next

With DDI now deployed on its internal network, Allied Telesis aims to use its own SDN to support its Secure Enterprise SDN product. Using threat information provided by DDI and Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™, the Secure Enterprise SDN solution will be able to provide automated, policy-based network control. This will enable customers to quarantine infected clients and/or perform flow-based, automatic communication shutdowns.

“One great advantage of this solution is that it controls edge switches in client systems as well as network devices on a server site. The traditional SDN was mostly for large data center or cloud environments, but this will extend its functionality to on-premises enterprise environments that require more control over edge switches,” said Kawakita.

The partnership between Allied Telesis and Trend Micro, which began in 2014, continues to grow. “Our partnership is not just a simple integration of products, but more of a fusion of our strengths in our markets,” explained Yutaka Nakajima, who leads Allied Telesis’s SDN Business Development Division.

"Our Software Defined Network provides more value to our customer when it is supported by good applications. That’s why we chose Trend Micro—and the market is taking notice."

Jun Kawakita,Director, Allied Telesis K.K.

“The Secure Enterprise SDN has already garnered our customers’ interest. As the Internet of Things grows, more devices with security vulnerabilities will be connected to it. We expect our Secure Enterprise SDN business to grow with these environmental changes,” Nakajima added.